Agreed. This dude will be retired and taking a cross country drive from NorCal to New Jersey on I-80 and will split off onto I-90 or I-70 just so he doesn't have to drive through Iowa. "I don't fucking care if it adds 12 hours to the drive and costs us $1000 more in gas, I ain't going to Iowa ever again."
I only go back to the Long years, but McCann is the first starting QB for Iowa who I can recall being pretty bitter about his time at Iowa as it related to the fans. Or at least not loving how he was treated in Kinnick and having mixed feelings about coming back. Since then, there's been Christensen and Rudock, too, and now Petras.
I know Kirk thinks he's somehow minimizing the "noise" or potential controversy within the team by sticking with one guy for as long as possible, but ironically not sure he doesn't actually make those things worse.
What if this season had looked like '99 from a QB standpoint (even a little bit), and we'd seen some Padilla and Labas. I think we'd all be in a slightly happier place, even if those two had struggled more than Petras. It's just a game - you can take guys in and out.